With the drying winds we’ve experienced lately both my daughter and I found ourselves with dry cracked lips.  I have become careful over the years about what we put on our lips, because any toxins the lip balm may contain are not only absorbed through the skin but are also ingested when we lick our lips, and when we eat and drink.  For this reason I like to make sure that whatever goes on our lips is natural, non-toxic and non-carcinogenic.

This natural lip gloss/balm recipe is simple to make yourself.You will only need three ingredients:

2 parts coconut oil (or almond oil)

2 parts shea butter (or cocoa butter)

1 part Beeswax

Method:

Warm a few centimetres of water in a small saucepan on medium heat.

Put all three ingredients in a small glass jar or bowl.

Place the jar or bowl in the saucepan and slowly melt all ingredients, making sure no water gets into the mixture.  Take the jar out of the warm water and stir well.

At this stage you can stir in flavour and/or tint into the lip balm mixture.  Try using your favourite essential oil e.g. peppermint, spearmint or mandarin and tint with cacao powder, tumeric or beetroot powder.  (In the photo above we used coconut oil, cacao and beetroot powder to tint and then flavoured with peppermint oil.  It is great lip balm but in retrospect the flavours didn’t combine well… Just saying….)

Pour the mixture into a smaller jar and allow to cool before using, then store it in a cool place.  Your lip balm will melt and go runny in heat so don’t leave it in your car and I don’t keep it in my handbag just to be on the safe side.